[Faith-talk] Fw: (Tafn-beliefs) DAILY DEVOTION

[Paul]

Hello folks.  For today and tomorrow I'm going to relinquish the Daily Thought time to Brother John Hosch of the UK, a member of TAFN, the Total Accessible Friends Network based in the UK.  It's an email and voice chat system similar to other ones around on the Net.  And now, through the miracle of email forwarding, here's John, and I hope that what you read from him today will be a blessing to you.  Your Christian friend, Paul
----- Original Message ----- 
From: John Hosch at TAFN 
To: roomforyourbeliefs at googlegroups.com 
Sent: Thursday, February 13, 2014 9:24 AM
Subject: (Tafn-beliefs) DAILY DEVOTION


"Do not waste time bothering whether you 'love' your neighbor; act as if you did. As soon as we do this, we find one of the greatest secrets. When you are behaving as if you loved someone, you will presently come to love him." - C.S. Lewis in his book, "Mere Christianity" 
 

The Lift 
 
The Face of Love 
(By Bonnie Jensen, Senior Writer, DaySpring Cards) 
 
"Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love." I CORINTHIANS 13:12, 13 NIV 
 
What will it be like to see love face to face? When we think of love do we imagine words that define it, or do we consistently see a picture of Jesus in our mind's eye? 
 
I Corinthians chapter 13 gives us a description of love. It begins with two qualities referring to what love is, followed by a long list of what love is not. I've often wondered why God chose to emphasize the negatives in the description. There is a reason. God knows us more fully than we can ever hope to know ourselves. He understands our weaknesses beyond our ability to even recognize all of them - or how often we allow them to prevail. 
 
As I read through each admonishment regarding what love is not, I see my weaknesses bubble to the surface...."love does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs...." (I Cor. 13:4, 5) I'm guilty of each of these antonyms of love. At one time or another, I've allowed my weaknesses to overcome God's directive to love. But there is beauty in falling short. It's a constant reminder that we are powerless to do anything worthy of praise without the lordship of Jesus Christ in our lives. Our heart's desire and ability to love others is directly related to our willingness to surrender to Him. He is love. 
 
If we begin to look into the eyes of others and picture our Lord looking at us, our perspective will change. God looks at us through eyes of love. Every morning He sees us through the filter of His infinite mercy - He sees us falling repeatedly, yet is never tempted to be impatient or unkind; He sees our wrongdoings, but doesn't record or remember them in light of His grace. 
 
God alone exemplifies the absolutes of love - He always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres - He never fails. He is the One we should see when we look at others...and we need look no further than God's clearest reflection - His Son, Jesus - to truly see the face of love. 

John Hosch

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